Kawakami: Tigers' Justin Verlander cements status as A's supervillain

OAKLAND -- Justin Verlander is a bad, bad man who keeps crushing the A's--their hopes, their ALDS dreams and their seasons.

He's their arch enemy, the most feared rival and, after Thursday, Verlander is the bane of this franchise's current existence.

And he's not apologizing for it, by the way. Does the Road Runner ever apologize to Wile E. Coyote?

"I just go out there when my team needs me the most," Verlander said after taking the Tigers to the ALCS against Boston.

In another Game 5 masterpiece, Verlander threw blurry fastballs, devastated the A's hitters, led the Tigers to a 3-0 victory, and eliminated the A's, all at once.

Then, in the Tigers clubhouse, Verlander was surrounded by his teammates, who dumped enough non-alcoholic champagne on his head to create a little sticky lake in there.

They were acknowledging their ace and leader, and the man they knew the A's just could not defeat.

Not in last year's ALDS Game 5, when Verlander went nine shut out innings also at the Coliseum, and not on Thursday.

Probably not ever, if it's do or die. Because Verlander doesn't die, not when it's against the A's.

"Feels fantastic," Verlander said later of the near-drowning. "No better feeling than to have your teammates surround you and pour champagne on you after a big game.

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"Your emotions are running so high the whole game, and it's just kind of a sigh of relief after the game is over and you've won."

Throwing mostly unhittable fastballs, Verlander struck out 10 A's in eight shut out innings and carried a no-hitter into the seventh--which was finally broken up by a Yoenis Cespedes single with two outs in the inning.

He was in total control. He had no crisis moments. Once Miguel Cabrera's two-run homer off A's starter Sonny Gray gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead in the fourth, it was cruise control.

What is it about the Coliseum that fuels Verlander's best performances?

"I think it's very hostile and it's a lot of fun, really, to be on the mound," Verlander said of the Coliseum environment.

"Everybody in the ballpark, 50,000 are rooting against me and yelling as loud as they can. That's fun for me. I enjoy it just as much as being at home and having that atmosphere as well. You thrive off it."

Verlander even acknowledged the fans near the Tigers bullpen who were taunting him with giant pictures of model Kate Upton (a rumored ex-girlfriend of his) and Pablo Sandoval (who hit two homers against Verlander in the Giants' Game 1 World Series victory last season).

"I did notice that," Verlander said with a smile. "No comment."

The performance extended Verlander's streak of scoreless postseason innings against the A's to 30, and it's hard to imagine how the A's are ever going to actually end that skid.

It's not really their fault. When Verlander is pitching like this--humming 97-mph fastballs and mixing in some off-speed stuff--he cannot be hit, and he keeps doing it exactly when the A's can't survive it.

"Justin rises to the occasion," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "I can usually tell by the look on his face and his demeanor before a game when he's zeroed in and locked in and he was locked in tonight."

Yes, this is the same guy who gave up those Sandoval homers along the way to five runs in four innings against the Giants last October at AT&T Park.

Verlander lost to Barry Zito on that day. Obviously, his Bay Area magic is restricted to this side of the water.

He had the mojo early on Thursday--Verlander said that once he started blowing his fastball past the A's hitters in the first few innings, he decided to stick with the hard stuff.

Again: Why not?

"He was on it early," A's manager Bob Melvin said. "We weren't getting very good swings on him.

"I thought maybe when it started to get darker (in the night), we would get better swings, but he kept throwing fastballs ...

"Surprising how many fastballs he threw that we swung through, because we're a very good fastball"'hitting team."

But that's Verlander--who threw seven shut out innings in Game 2, which the A's won when Gray was even better, and who apparently cannot pitch poorly in October in Oakland.

When it's time to extinguish the A's, there is nobody the A's would less like to see. He's the supervillain, he's the nightmare.

"One of the best all-time," Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter said of Verlander amid the champagne storm.

He's the man the A's can't get past, the last pitcher they'd ever want to face with their season at stake. The A's hoped Gray would be their version of Verlander on Thursday, but he just couldn't match the zeros.

It was all about Verlander again on Thursday, throwing rockets and staring down the A's.

He is their season-killer, and there is no way for the A's to get around that. Or him.